Scent of a Garden

A Novel

By: Namrata Patel

Narrated by: Soneela Nankani

A perfumer in Paris is forced to return to her California roots in an exhilarating novel about family, self-discovery, and taking risks by the author of The Candid Life of Meena Dave.

The daughter of proud Napa Valley hoteliers, Asha “Poppy” Patel chose a different line as a Paris perfumer, gifted with a nose for fragrances and business. Until her heightened sense of smell disappears. Her career in jeopardy, her world now muted, Poppy returns home. Maybe tending to her grandmother’s massive aromatic garden, where Poppy’s gift first flowered, will bring restorative hope.

But when she arrives, Poppy discovers that the land upon which the beautiful garden once thrived has been uprooted and destroyed. She realizes that the years she spent away from her home have loosened so many ties with the past. Torn between a mother who lives vicariously through her and a father who wants her to embrace her family’s legacy, Poppy is determined to chart her own path of rediscovery.

Poppy must juggle family drama, childhood friendships, and a former love to forge a future of her own choosing and, in time, heal an unscented life.

©2023 Namrata Patel (P)2023 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Patel has written a touching tale of one young woman’s reckoning with her family’s generational legacy, staying true to her roots and traditions while at the same time forging a path for herself. Full of warmth and humor, this book is recommended for all fiction collections.”—Booklist

“Full of softly beautiful descriptions and remarkably rendered characters, Patel’s sophomore novel grapples with familial pressures and legacies. It’s a sensual read, full of details pertaining not only to scents, as might be expected, but also to foods and visual descriptors.”—BookRiot.com

Unbearable Protagonist

I really like the story, but could not stand Asha. She was entitled, spiteful, and selfish. I thought there would be some growth and I would grow to like her, but it never happened. Every other character was likable. I wished that Neil would find a really awesome girl and there’d be no chance for her because she did not deserve his kindness.

Great summer read

Loved this book especially the descriptions of plants and flowers. And the scent of the garden.

Stretched thin

Story was mediocre, and information was repeated several times in different chapters. Heroine came across as a little pathetic – I wanted to smack her. Plot and storyline were OK but predictable

Arrested Development

I kept waiting for Asha to become likeable—it didn’t happen. Her grudges against her mother, father, boss, old boyfriend were longstanding and Asha expressed her resentment often. She left home at 17 and it seems like she stayed at that age emotionally. The big mystery was why her family continued to like her. Usually by the end of a book I have more sympathy for a character but not this time. After living in Paris for 15 years Asha felt she had the right to be enraged about the sale of a garden her family owned. The fact that her father needed the money for his hotel was irrelevant. At 32, Asha had yet to develop empathy and continued to wallow in self-pity.

Another world?

Seriously? Are there people this entitled and THIS self-centered in the world. The young man was the only redeemable character in the story. Pray for him…